'As usual, words fail him': 20 great literary feuds

In 2000, literary critic Harold Bloom dismissed JK Rowling's Harry Potter writing as "heavy on cliché", “dumbing down” and making "no demands upon her readers". Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he said he doubted the first Harry Potter book would ever be considered a “classic of children’s literature”.

Bloom continued: "How to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? Why, very quickly, to begin with, perhaps also to make an end. Why read it? Presumably, if you cannot be persuaded to read anything better, Rowling will have to do.”

Ffamous for his 1973 work, The Anxiety of Influence, which commented on literary originality (or lack thereof), Bloom was blasted by Harry Potter fans, who objected to his remarks, describing them as "high-brow snobbery." Bloom's comments were met with a stony silence by Rowling herself, though. Presumably she felt the series' 400 million sales spoke for itself.